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Friday, 27 November 2015

Am just finishing my Christmas cards and this is another quick make - so much so that I made half a dozen in different colours whist I had the dies out.
It's just a variation on the theme of the dangly star below.

Bright white base card, a layer of red and another white layer embossed with a snowy folder.
Offcut of the red card used to cut out the bow ( I have had this die since last year and this was the first time I have ever used it....)
The stars were the outlines from the cards I made here. The die cuts out lots of different sized star shapes and outlines so this was one way of using up the other stars.
Have now depleted completely the roll of tiny silver metal beads, so at least I can say I have used SOEMTHING up! The bow and star were stuck with 3d glue so they are raised from the base card.
Sentiment from SU stamped in Rocket Red Versamark ink.
Challenges -Uniko - Christmas CASRudolph DaySweet Stamping Christmas - StarsCrafty Addicts - Use a Die CutRubys Rainbow - Christmas/metallic twist (my beads!)

Thanks for taking some time to look at my blog today - hope you are having a great day whatever you're doing! x

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Saturday saw the annual Bowls England Ladies Presentation Dinner. A really good night (pic of me and him below) - once the serious stuff of awards and speeches over then came the dancing, drinking and.......... skipping!
The girls won the 'skipping challenge' AGAIN! High heels abandoned, some had to hitch up long dresses, others were holding down short skirts! The sight of men suitably dressed in dinner suits and ranging in age from 20 to 60 trying to skip in a long line was hilarious, and of course the silly other half had to have a go too.....thankfully only thing that was injured was his pride!
Right onto the other serious stuff which is of course cards!
Here's a share from me for today -

I have made a lot of CAS cards this Christmas mainly owing to lack of time.
This pic is pretty awful to be honest, but the light here is dreadful - a proper November day - grey and raining!
White linen textured card onto a silver matt base before layering onto base card.
The branch was cut out twice from snippets of card - one a bright white plain card and then a scrap of silver glitter card.
Silver piece layered over the white piece - (it does give the effect of a snowy top in real life but can't see it in the pic!) and then raised onto the card with 3d foam pads
A silver star also cut from an oddment and a piece of silver beaded cord wrapped round the branch to hang the star from.
Sentiment silver embossed.
Quite like this one! Might do a few more!
Off to the Playground with my snippets share for this week.
Other ChallengesCAS on Sunday - Christmas)613 Ave Create - Square/Christmas/Silver + WhiteBunny Zoes - SparkleCCC- Anything GoesAddicted to CAS - DimensionAAA - Anything Goes

Almost forgot! Here's the pic of us from Saturday night (before the tie and jacket were abandoned for the Skipping fest.....and just in case you thought it was all old fogies who play bowls....here's a pic of Katie and Sophie who walked off with the ultimate prizes of 'Young Bowler of
the year and 'Bowler of the Year'! (They're pretty good at skipping
too!!)

Thanks for leaving any comments too - appreciate it. Have a great day whatever you're doing! x

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

It is the most AWFUL day here weatherwise! Wind is howling and the rain is battering down... glad I don't have to go anywhere!
A white on white card to share today - used up a few bits of white card too (Playground for me then!!)

I have some sheets of this leather effect card left (bought it years ago) so used some for this card.
It's quite a nice texture.
This was not only CAS but QAE (Quick and Easy!).

The holly flourish die was one I bought last year and have used it quite a bit. I cut it out twice using the left over piece from the A4 sheet that I used to make the square card.
The poinsettia is the same that I used on the DT cards this month - (hadn't put it away so thought I might as well use it again!)
Added some red blingy bits to the holly and the centre of the flower and a little sparkly stuff to the poinsettia petals.
Sentiment stamped in Rocket Red.

Got a mountain of ironing to do but am intending to spend some time chucking glitter all over the place later - got to get these Christmas cards made!!

Sunday, 15 November 2015

My turn for the mid month post at Stamping Sensations where all
the DT have to make something in a colour that they're not comfortable
with.

There's not many colours I don't like - sometimes what I call the
harsh colours (yellows/oranges) I think are hard to work with but the
one that tops the list for me is not one of the harsh ones but one I
call NONDESCRIPT! Put simply the colour is Kraft!

Don't
know what it is about this buff coloured card but I find it really
difficult to use. I have tried many times to make Cards with it - some
have turned out OK, (and just OK) - others have just ended up in the
bin!

It always seems drab and dreary and reminds me of boring cardboard
boxes and packages!

So tasked with the
mid month challenge I jumped in and got out the Kraft card. This is the
third attempt! (others are in the Kraft cemetery).

I also tried to keep with this months challenge theme which is 'Festive Florals and Foliage'.

Overall I am happy with this as I think the contrast colour 'lifts' the dreariness- I used Weathered White white embossing powder for all the stamping and 2 stamps (the script one and the border one) which have not seen the light of day for eons.
The poinsettias are the same as I used on this months DT card, (here) again stamped, embossed in white and then fussy cut.
I used watercolour pastels to colour the flower and leaves.
A little bit of string (there's those boring cardboard boxes again....!!) and a couple of sparkly bits for the centres of the flowers.
There's still time for you to join us for our Festive Floral challenge - just remember the focal point of your project has to be a stamp!
Am submitting this into -Crafts Galore Encore - use a Stamp1 Crazy Stamper - Winter/ChristmasAlphabet Challenge - 'T' - Tis the SeasonCSAYL - Anything GoesPB and More - Anything Christmas

Wednesday, 11 November 2015

Home very late Sunday night - apart from the heavy rain the motorways behaved themselves and we managed it back in 5 hours!
Another journey yesterday - this time on the train - to a meeting a couple of hours away. Home at a reasonable time late afternoon so found some 'me' time (much needed) and made a couple more cards!
All Christmas ones and here is yet another inspired by something which I must have seen somewhere else at some time or other!

The pic is not the best - it's been so dark here today and now it's raining quite hard!
This is my take of a Christmas Moonscape! (I resisted the urge to put an earth in the sky!)

I used -
basic bright white smooth card, then added a layer of dark grey. Another piece of white cut to layer on the top and a rectangular aperture cut in the middle.

Two snippets of white card cut with a landscape die and the trees/houses snipped off! I used Salty Ocean, Broken China and Tumbled Glass DI's and inked the snippets, then took 3 scraps of patterned paper and cut into slim triangles, tucking them in between the two inky bits.

A white gel pen dotted randomly in the 'sky' and a little Diamond stickles added to the 'hills' and round the edge of the aperture.
SU sentiment stamped in Smokey Grey.
Now that the dead rockets and ash mess has been cleared up after the Bonfire Party I am calling in at the Snippets Playground.

Friday, 6 November 2015

Friday again! Off to Suffolk tomorrow - Presentation lunch is Sunday. It's another 5 hour drive so hoping the motorways are kind to us!
I am trying to be a bit more organised this year and have been doing a few Christmas Cards whilst I have been at home - and it's given me a chance to just switch off from speeches and 'what am I going to wear this week'. Social media is the curse of the wardrobe!

I have done a lot of CAS cards and can't take the credit really for any of the designs as the images have been rattling round in my head so likely I saw them on Pinterest at some point when I was 'trawling'.

I made a couple of these using a previously unused star die - the star shapes are all different sizes so no doubt there will be more of them turning up on other cards.

Apart from having to wipe the dust from the sewing machine this was a really quick make and used up little bits of paper! (Which I confess I rescued from the bin on the desk..... am not sure that's the idea of using up snippets but hey ho!)
Risking visiting the Playground again - (and I hope someone else has cleared up all the dead rockets......)

I used Brilliance Rocket Red ink for the sentiment as it was a perfect match for the red star.

Sunday, 1 November 2015

We have BE CREATIVE as our sponsors this month at Stamping Sensations and our challenge is ' Festive Florals and Foliage'. For those of you like me who are 'last minute' making Christmas cards there is no excuse not to join in this time and make a start!!!

We were given some scrummy papers from our sponsor to play with - the Winter Wonderland collection is lovely - all double sided too!
I distressed the edges and then dipped in some white embossing powder.

This stamp is one of my very fave Christmas ones, it never lets me down no matter what colour I use!
I stamped twice, once onto the DP and once again onto a piece of teal coloured card. White embossed, then cut out the centre oval from the dark card.

The poinsettias are another stamp set I use a lot, I used up the offcuts of the DP and the card for the petals and stick a little sparkly in the centre of each. Same sparklies used in the top right corner.

The sentiment is a really old wood backed stamp but it stamps beautifully on ANYTHING including vellum. Tore the vellum and then with the bits left over punched out a couple of ferny bits and ticked behind the biggest flower.

Hope you will share your Festive makes with us this challenge - and don't forget - any holly, ivy christmas tree, christmas flower is fine as long as the focal point of your project is STAMPED!!!!
Am going to pop this into the Playground as I used up every scrap of the paper - and have missed visiting the swings the last few weeks.

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About Me

I love being in my crafty space! It's a place where I can make cards, paint, alter stuff and lose myself.
I have been the National President of Bowls England in 2017 and have a wonderfully understanding husband who puts up with the mess!
I am a football fanatic and am a mad Liverpool FC supporter.
I've been tracing my family tree for a long time (with one ancestry line traced back to 1605!).
I divide my time up doing all the things I like to do - crafting, genealogy, and lawn bowls! I am lucky enough to have formed several friendships through all my hobbies and love being in blogland!

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Former Design Team Member

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FOUR TIMES A GINGER GEM!

Honoured to be selected for this award- great talented artists here and to be picked amongst them once was amazing - four times is awesome!!!

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COPYRIGHT

All artwork, photos and text on this blog are copyright Viv Tomlinson. I hope I can inspire people the way others have inspired me but please do not attempt to copy or reproduce my work.I consent for my work for any challenges/swaps etc I enter to be copied and posted on the relevant site, but please do not put any of my images elsewhere.